Friday, September 15, 2017

A 2fer: Triangles and Archaeology

The
Triangular Shaped Projectile Points

and

The First Week of Archaeology at Fort Hunter

The main topic for this week’s blog is a
very common artifact in Pennsylvania, the triangular projectile point. It is
especially oriented to the projectile point nerds in our audience - those
readers who are fascinated with the shapes of projectile points and how they
are grouped into types. To our readers who are interested in artifacts – their
age, function and how they were made – this blog is for you.

Triangular projectile points or arrow
heads are associated with the Late Woodland period - dating from 900 AD to 1550
AD. Archaeologists have long recognized that there seems to be two different
shapes or types of triangles in the Northeast. The slightly larger form was
named the Levanna type by William Ritchie (1961). This type is approximately as
wide as it is long, like an equilateral triangle, and usually with a concave
base. According to Ritchie (1961) they average 3.1 cm to 4.5 cm in length; they
are usually well flaked and date between 900 AD and 1350 AD. It is assumed they
were used as arrow points. In Pennsylvania, this type is associated with
Clemson Island and Owasco pottery types.

Levanna Points

The second type, first described by Scully
(1951), is the Madison type. It averages 2.5 cm long and is more commonly
isosceles in shape or longer than wide. Although the two types clearly overlap
in time, Madison triangles are generally thought to date after the Levanna type
from 1300 AD to 1600 AD. In the Ohio Valley of Pennsylvania, these are
sometimes referred to as Mississippian or Fort Ancient points and they are
associate with the Monongahela culture. A sample of 50 Shenks Ferry triangular points
from the Quarry site in Lancaster County (36La1100) dating to approximately
1500 AD, averaged 2.1 cm in length. Interestingly, a study conducted by Graybill
et al. found that there was a
reduction in the width of these points between early Shenks Ferry and late
Shenks Ferry.

Madisson Triangles from the Quarry site

Although some archaeologists have argued that not all triangles
could be pigeonholed into the Levanna or Madison type, it was believed that all
triangular projectile points dated to the Late Woodland period and functioned
as arrow points. However, in New England and New York, other types of
triangular projectile point types have been found in Archaic contexts. The
Beekman triangle is described by Ritchie (1971) as being associated with Late
Archaic, Vosburg points in New York State dating to 4700 BP. He described these
as equilateral in shape with excurvate or straight edges, and with moderate
grinding of the base. On Martha’s Vineyard, Ritchie (1971) identified
Squibnocket triangles in Late Archaic contexts, dating to 4200 BP. These were
shaped like equilateral or isosceles triangles but with no grinding on the
base. Hunterbrook triangles (Wingerson and Wingerson 1976) were defined based
on the Hunter Brook Rockshelter along the Hudson River as equilateral in shape
with excurvate edges and a ground and thinned base. However, Archaic triangles
were rare and limited to New York and New England. For some archaeologists,
there was a lingering question as to whether these were really Archaic in age
or were they Late Woodland points that had washed into Archaic strata.

Beginning in the 1990’s, the chronological interpretation of these
points began to change with the excavation of a large number of triangles from stratified
Archaic sites at the Abbott Farm Complex along the Delaware River in New
Jersey. This was unequivocal evidence that triangular points were being made
and used during the Archaic period. The radiocarbon
dates from the Area D site (28Me1-D) at Abbott Farm extended the age of these
points back to 6500 BP. Since that time, a number of other sites in
Pennsylvania, such as Memorial Park (36Cn164), West Water Street (36Cn175),
East Bank (36Nb16), Mifflinville (36Co17), Raker (36Nb58), P-11(36Pe60) and the
Wallis site (36Pe16) have produced dates on Beekman or Hunterbrook triangles
ranging from 6500 BP to 3600 BP.

Archaic
Triangles from the Abbott Farm Complex (Custer 2001)

There has been an effort to physically distinguish Archaic
triangles from later Woodland triangles at the Abbott Farm Complex. Stewart
(1998) states that a “healthy percentage” of Archaic triangles can be
distinguished from Late Woodland triangles by “1) a patterned approach to the
pressure flaking of bases, and 2) the asymmetrical aspect of the basal edge
angle.” In addition, they exhibit “finer workmanship, symmetry and thinness
than later types” (Wall et al. 1996: 10).
Katz (2000) on the other hand, presents data that suggest that Archaic through
Early Woodland triangles are difficult to distinguish from Late Woodland
triangles.

There is one final lingering question. How were Archaic triangles used?
Archaic triangles are indistinguishable from Late Woodland triangles so,
logically, we might conclude that they also functioned as arrow points.

Triangular points such as the Madison and
Levanna types are practically synonymous with the Late Woodland period, the
introduction of the bow and arrow, well-made pottery, the introduction of
farming; and village life. The received wisdom is that Indian populations were
increasing; they began growing corn to feed the additional people; the bow and
arrow was a more efficient for hunting compared to the atlatl; and it was also
a more effective weapon in warfare. However, it is now clear that this scenario
is rather simplistic and the appearance of the bow and arrow occurred much
earlier.

Opening
Excavations for the 2017 Season at Fort Hunter

The excavations at the Fort Hunter site (36Da159)
were opened on September 7th, delayed one day by rain. The main
areas for this year’s work are the smokehouse and the western trench. The
backfill was removed from the western trench and the walls were cut and the
floor troweled in the smokehouse block. The western trench is situated directly
north of the mansion. It was first opened in 2008 and subsequently expanded in
2016. It is an area that contains multiple layers of late 18th,
early 19th century occupations over a series of prehistoric
occupations. The area probably relates to either the fort period (1756-1763) or
the early to middle McAllister period (1787-1830).

West block

In the smokehouse block, several suspected
features from last year were more easily defined. These will be further investigated to
better define the smokehouse structure and to determine if this was also the site of
an earlier smokehouse. Towards the end of this season, the smokehouse
foundation will be removed to recover artifacts that may more exactly determine
the date of this structure.

Smokehouse block

We had a very interesting interview with
Marcus Schneck of Pennlive that will be aired the week of September 18th.

Marcus
Schneck Interview

This is going to be an exciting excavation
season, so please join us. The site is open to the public from 9:00 am to 4:00
pm weekdays, weather permitting. Friday the 15th (TONIGHT), we are celebrating
3rd in the Burg so the site will be opened until 6:00 pm. This coming Sunday,
September 17th is Fort Hunter Day and we will be open for public visitation and will be excavating from
10:00 am until 5:00 pm.

We hope to see you there!

References

Custer, Jay F.

2001Classification Guide for Arrowheads and
Spearpoints of Eastern Pennsylvania and the Central Middle Atlantic,
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg.

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One Tank Trip

WFMZ-TV 69 from Reading, Pennsylvania visited The State Museum of Pennsylvania on February 8th, 2017. Karin Mallett prepared a feature piece on great places to visit that are one tank of gas from Reading and our gallery was the focus of this visit. Karin interviewed Kurt Carr, Senior Curator and Janet Johnson in the gallery and provide a nice overview of the spectacular exhibits. Please click on the link below and enjoy this glimpse of the museum during this One Tank Trip!
One Tank Trip: Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology

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